Days after homeowners protested delays in the completion of allotted dwellings, Collector Kaushalendra Vikram Singh, on Thursday, chaired a meeting to discuss plans for making the city slum-free.

The meeting focused on strategies to provide permanent homes to citizens under the Slum Rehabilitation Programme, which promises to eliminate slums from urban areas in the near future.

The Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) has planned to divide the city into nine clusters for the identification and survey of slums.In the first phase, the survey of slums around Vallabh Bhavan has been completed, while similar studies are continuing in the remaining slum zones.

Advocating the inclusion of social profiling in the survey process, Singh said the move would help safeguard livelihoods, besides providing homes to those living in shanties.

The administration says residents of earmarked slums will be provided with pucca houses under the PPP model, while parking spaces, shopping malls, commercial complexes, and community halls will also be built under the Suraj Campaign and the Redensification Policy.

Officials reported that phase one construction has already commenced on 17-18 acres, while a Detailed Project Report (DPR)—comprising design, planning policy, estimates, tender conditions, and all preparations—will be ready within a week.

At the meeting, it was decided that BMC will complete the tender process within a week and present it before the Authorised Committee for ratification.

The meeting, which came days after allottees protested delays in the completion of a similar housing project at the civic body headquarters, was attended by all SDMs, urban administration engineers, and various other officials involved in the project.